This thread is to discuss these animals,best exhibits for them and generally how they fare in captivity.Being as there are only a few holdings for Clouded Leopards in the UK, I'm interested to know what everyone thinks about these animals.You can share moments such as the first time you spotted one,interacted with one or just happened to see an active one.
I have seen my first clouded leopard just two weeks before in Taipei zoo.The exhibit is actually in good size, but provide not much climbing for the clouded leopard. The clouded leopard was just sitting there during my visit(keep in mind that's not formosan clouded leopard, but rather indochinese send by a german zoo(wuppertal?))
I've seen both species of clouded leopard, but in most zoos I go to they are hiding. The first one I ever saw was in Australia, but there aren't any left there now.
I think they are beautiful. For the few clouded leopard exhibits that I have seen in person, the Smithsonian National Zoo's is my favorite one.
In the United States this is a recent zoo success story. It is only within the last decade that they are breeding well. This is due to a partnership with a facility in Thailand that I think was initiated by Nashville Zoo and Smithsonian Conservation Center. Nashville has a good exhibit (which I have seen) and Point Defiance has a new exhibit that appears to be quite good (I have not seen it). We are of course talking of the mainland clouded leopard which is now considered a separate species from the Sunda island clouded leopard (Sumatra and Borneo). This exists in captivity in only a couple collections in its native range (though if anyone knows of others I would love to hear about it). The secret to clouded leopard breeding appears to be introducing the future mates while they are still young - about one year old. This makes them comfortable with each other and prevents aggression during mating, since they have the longest canine teeth (relative to their body size) of any cat and there have been cases of the male biting through the female's skull during mating.
I have heard that clouded leopards are the closest living relatives of the saber toothed cats.Quite ingenious with how they mate these animals.
Whoever you heard that from was feeding you a line they are no more related to the Machairodontinae than are any other living cats, and are very distant at that. To give you an idea of just how distantly-related modern cats are to the Machairodontinae, the last common ancestor of all living cat species is believed to have lived in the late Miocene (around 7 million years ago) whilst the first recorded members of the Machairodontinae date to the early Miocene (around 23 million years ago). As such, the last common ancestor of modern cats and the sabertoothed cats was sometime prior to this point - possibly not long after the first cat species evolved in the late Oligocene (around 25 million years ago).
Feeding me a line? What is that supposed to mean? I don't remember where I heard it from,but I believe that whoever said must have thought that because of the cat's large canines that they may have been related to saber tooths. Thanks for correcting it though,you learn something new everyday.
I know that but the point of that comment was that it was a joke because of what was said.I think what was meant to be said was"feeding you a lie".Hence I tried to make a small joke about it.
Actually, I'm pretty sure I read this somewhere too, although this was years ago. Shame I can't remember exactly where I read this (would have been the last 90s I think, and possible that the source was somewhat older still). Or maybe I just misinterpreted what they were trying to say (or just plain remembered wrong), and instead they were saying not that they were closely related, but that they had canine-lengths that were heading towards the lower-end found in some Machairodonts?
Nope; I said precisely what I intended to say. Quite possibly, as this *is* accurate - in point of fact the clouded leopard has canines which are longer in relation to skull size than those of Dinofelis, one of the more recent Machairodonts.
Cool, thanks TLD I unpacked my copies of 'The Big Cats and their Fossil Relatives' and 'The Velvet Claw' (OK, seriously out-of-date now, but still) just yesterday, will have to do some revision of feline evolution!
Does Lok Kawi still have Bornean clouded leopards? A wildlife centre near Kuching used to have them as well.
When I visited Matang Wildlife Centre, the place near Kuching, last summer they had one male N.diardi. Apparently according to @devilfish he is no longer there however. Therefore, I have been lucky to see both species. I was very impressed by how much darker in colour the diardi was from the nebulosa I have seen at the Aspinall zoos, Duisburg and so on.
There are a male clouded leopard in Haugaland zoo. They have started to build an enclosure for a female. I'm not sure if they are intending to breed them, but I would guess so. The male's enclosure is outdoor and quite large with loads of branches to climb on.
Found this older study of the Formosan clouded leopard on the net. The subspecies is now almost surtainly extinct but I would be intrested to know if it ever has been kept in captivity ? : http://cloudedleopard.org/documents/Formosan clouded leopard Po-Jen Chiang 2007.pdf
Article about a plan to re-introduce Clouded leopards on Taiwan : The plan to reintroduce a big cat that might never have existed
Read page 6 of the original PDF cum field study. I would love to know which specimens (7) are in the Taiwan National Museum and when / where collected. Also there are hunters' reports from the past - substantiated or not ..., worthy to delve into when Chinese / Mandarin is accessible to you.
